Moshe Dayan. The committee authorized the assassination of all the
individuals involved, directly or indirectly, in the Munich massacre,
listing 35 main assassination targets. The mission was assigned to sev-
eral different Mossad teams formed by the chief of the Caesarea Di-
vision in the Mossad, Michael (Mike) Harari. It was carried out
mainly by Kidon (Bayonet), an ultrasecret subunit of Caesarea.
The actions conducted to assassinate key Palestinian terrorist lead-
ers were known unofficially as the Wrath of God Operation or the
Sword of Gideon Operation. A general mobilization was declared in
the Israeli Security Agency(ISA) and in Unit 504of the Israel De-
fense Forces (IDF). For the purpose of the assassinations, the most tal-
ented intelligence-gathering officers were called up, including Shmuel
Goren, chief of Queshet (an intelligence-gathering unit); Baruch Co-
hen; Zadok Ophir; Raphael (Rafi) Sutton; Eliezer (Geyzi) Tsafrir;
and Nahum Admoni, chief of Tevel, the branch in charge of connec-
tions with foreign intelligence agencies.
Committee-X found the Mossad in Europe to have inadequate in-
frastructure, with the arm that was supposed to penetrate Arab com-
munities throughout Europe being particularly weak. During the
search for the terrorists involved in the Munich massacre, it emerged
that of the eight terrorists who had taken part in the massacre, five
had been killed by German police officers and three had been de-
tained. After the hijacking of a Lufthansa airliner in October 1972,
they were released and moved to Libya and then to Damascus,
whereupon all traces of them were lost. As far as is known, they are
still alive. However, about 20 other Palestinians with blood on their
hands, or who had been involved in preparing acts of terror but were
not necessarily connected to the Munich massacre, met their deaths
in strange and mysterious ways.
In any event, the Munich massacre signified a real turning point
in Israel’s war on terror. This was the beginning of a war to the
death against the terror organizations, and Israel sent the best of its
people on a campaign of elimination and vengeance. One of the
first targeted for assassination by the decision of Committee-X was
a Black September Organization (BSO) member whose name and
nickname are still classified, who arrived in Athens with the task of
sending a cargo container filled with hidden explosives to the Haifa
port, where it would be detonated by remote control. The Mossad
received information about this plan, and its operatives left for306 • WRATH OF GOD OPERATION06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 306